Questions from a firstimer (english only please)

Greetings, everyone. My name is Afsheen. I'm 25 years old and I live in Las Vegas, Nevada USA... Wacken 2009 will be my first experience there. I have never been to this festival but I have been to at least 100 concerts here in the states and even some in Europe in years past.
I have been to the Greenfield festival in Interlaken, Switzerland in 2005 where we stayed in a nice hostel very close to the festival grounds... I also attended Rock Werchter in Werchter, Belgium in 2005 but we drove there from Amsterdam for one night and and then drove back at the end of the night. I have so many questions about this festival that I don't know where to begin.
Allow me to start with our itinerary. We are flying from Philadelphia (my hometown) where 5 of my friends are and we will be departing as early as a week before the concert to Amsterdam. We have considered renting a car from Amsterdam but we are not sure if we are going to do that yet as there are 6 of us.
If we don't rent a car we will be taking a train somehow managing to board the "metal train" i've heard about... I'd like to write more but this is going to be pages upon pages so I'll just use bullets for my points and please any and everybody offer me suggestions/answers to my questions. Thanks in advance. Cheers!

- Any on-site showers?
- Any on-site lockboxes (I am worried about carrying my passport with me at all times... My friends and I really drink heavily at concerts as we are all HUGE metalheads and I have a feeling we will all be living it up at the festival.
- Is there a general store in town I could walk/drive to to get tents/food/bathroom/showers?
- What time is music usually done at night?
- Can we bring booze/food/water into the festival campgrounds?
- Are the Bathrooms/showers a big mess or will I be able to shower in them or use them once a day?
- Any other suggestions?

I've run out of questions at the moment but I know there will be more. I will continue hopping on this thread and look forward to engaging in discussion with any of you... if Aim is easier... SpursRule2 if email is easier... AfsheenHayat@hotmail.com. I've never posted on internet forums so I'm not sure how they all work and this one is all in German... great haha

P.S. I heard there are some places to make reservations for hotel or other sleeping arrangements. Can I do this online and has anyone ever stayed at any of these places? So long as a room or two could fit 6 of us and it would be reasonably close to the festival I would consider it. Even one room with one bed I don't care! And cost would be appreciated. Anyone who can contribute one bit of information to this thread would be amazing. Cheers!